Changed Options
by MzShellSan
Summary: Mai and Naru are stuck in a cabin in the middle of winter... alone. Feelings were bound to come up, but in what way? Written for FicMas day 24, dedicated to Caithawke4eva. This isn't quite where I thought this would go, and I know it isn't exactly what you were after, but hopefully you enjoy anyways?


**25 Days of FicMas**

**Day:** Twenty-Four

**Dedication: **CaitHawke4Ever

**Fandom: **Ghost Hunt

**Pairing: **Mai/Naru

**Disclaimer: **I do not own ghost hunt

**Changed Options**

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Glaring out the window of the small cabin that they were stuck in, Mai shivered when a new wave of cold made it through the small crack in the window.

"Get away from the window, idiot. You're just going to freeze sooner by doing that."

"But Naru, how can you stand to just sit there?" Mai whined, swinging around to give him an incredulous look; finger poised accusingly.

Raising an eyebrow, Naru rolled his eyes. "You're being stupid. There's nothing we can do in this situation but wait around for the snow storm to pass. Why would I bother wasting my energy on anything before then?"

"But-" Mai cut herself off with a groan.

Stepping away from the window, she thought about taking a seat but found herself tensing at the thought alone. She was too restless to just be sitting around.

So she did the next best thing... and started pacing.

In the beginning, Naru ignored her – content to amuse himself with his notebook which he was reading by torchlight. There was a fire place burning in the centre of the room but other than that there was nothing to really save them from the outside cold.

Luckily, for the time being it seemed to be doing the trick. That or the endless walking was serving to keep her warm.

Many things were running through her mind as she made her way from one edge of the cabin and then back.

What happened if the storm never ended? What if they were snowed in? Were the others safe? Where were they? How were they going to get into contact with them? What-

"Mai."

Snapping out of her thoughts, she glanced over at Naru with a titled head. "Yes?" she asked, coughing to clear her throat when she realised how thick it sounded.

"You're crying."

"No I'm not-"

"Mai." That was definitely a reprimand.

Reaching up with frigid fingers, Mai blinked in surprised when she realised that her cheeks were in fact wet. The pressure was dull against her face and she realised with a start that her face was going numb.

Narrowed eyes watched her carefully before deducing what was going on.

"Grab a blanket from the bed and then sit in front of the fire place."

"But-"

"Now, Mai. I'm not letting you die of frostbite. Now hurry up and do as you're told."

Muttering about how much of a jerk he was even was he was doing it for her own sake, Mai sighed and grabbed the thickest blanket from the single bed in the room (which she was steadfastly ignoring for obvious reasons) and wrapped it around herself.

Almost immediately, she could feel the different in temperature which was making her all the more aware of just how cold she _actually_ was.

It was silent apart from their breathing while they sat there in the dim light of the fire. Occasionally Mai shivered as her body slowly warmed back up.

Mai let her thoughts drift again, this time steering clear of the more _upsetting_ topics. Instead, she focused on her personal situation.

They were stuck in a cabin in the outskirts of Hakuba with no idea how far away they are from the others, but they had a fire and enough fire wood to last them a couple of days according to Naru. There was some bottles of water , and they'd managed to find a stash of dried food. They were still in date so Naru had deduced that whoever owned this cabin kept things like that just in case of an outage. Likely they were used to this sort of thing happening.

All things considered, she supposed if they were going to be stuck somewhere in a snow storm, it didn't get too much better than this.

Glancing over at Naru, she was happy that it was cold enough for her cheeks to be red already because she could practically feel the blood running towards them.

The company could be worse as well.

_'It's practically some drama set-up,'_ Mai noted before scoffing at herself and drawing Naru's attention for a moment.

She was being ridiculous.

"What?"

Blinking, Mai raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"You were staring. I understand there isn't too much to look at here but-"

"God you're so narcissistic," Mai cut off with a groan, burying her face in her knees; the blanket wrapping around her more. "I was thinking about how much better it would be to be stuck with someone who wasn't going to ignore me this entire time."

It was a lie but she noticed that it seemed to get his attention. "Oh? And what do you propose we talk about?"

Mai spluttered a little before shrugging. "_Anything_ is better than nothing," she pointed out weakly.

Holding up his notebook, Naru gave her a challenging look. "I beg to differ."

"You jerk."

His lips twitched into a smirk before he sighed and closed his notebook. "Fine. What kinds of things would you talk about with the others in this situation."

Mai thought about it for a moment, mind running through the different things she normally discussed with the team. It would really depend on who it was, wouldn't it?

"It's a good opportunity to tell ghost stories, but I don't think I'm up for it this time," Mai admitted softly; more as an afterthought as she ran through her option.

"Don't you get enough of ghost stories when you're working?" Naru scoffed.

Blinking, Mai thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "Not really? It's different," she insisted. Noting how unconvinced Naru looked, Mai tried to figure out how to explain it. "It's like, with ghost stories I know it's not real and it isn't happening to I can enjoy it more. When it's actually happening it's different. I'm used to seeing things in my dreams at this point as well, so talking about them doesn't really... faze me? If that makes sense?"

From the look on Naru's face she was certain that he could understand on a logic level. But there was a crease in his eyebrow that usually indicated that he was struggling with the more... _normal_ aspects of the concept.

Shrugging, Mai smiled at him. "But if you don't like reading or telling ghost stories then what _do_ you enjoy reading?"

Naru didn't even think about it for a second. "Non-fiction. Sciences mostly, parapsychology usually but the other sciences are also interesting."

Giggling, Mai shrugged at the look he shot her. "Sorry. It just fits you so well."

"Ghost stories don't fit you."

The comment surprised Mai and from the look on Naru's face before the shock was turned into stoicism, maybe he hadn't meant to make the comment?

"What's that mean?"

Naru shrugged but didn't bother to elaborate.

Pouting, Mai forced her eyes wide. "Please Naru? I wanna know what you meant," she pleaded. Her curiosity was high now and she was certain that if he didn't tell her she'd spend the next few _weeks _wondering what he'd meant.

"You just seem more like the kind of person who would sob over romance stories and become invested in the lives of people in a fantasy novel," Naru admitted finally.

There was something almost... nostalgic? in the way he said that. Like his mind was far away from where they were and focused on something else entirely.

Thinking about it, Mai tried to figure out how he'd come to that conclusion but couldn't really grasp it. "I don't _hate_ those kinds of stories, but I don't much like to read. I don't have time for it. So maybe I would enjoy those more but ghost stories were a tradition between my mother and I. Since we used to live in more run-down places, whenever it would storm the power would go out. My mother and I turned it into a game. We would try our best to scare each other with ghost stories until the power came back on or one of us fell asleep. It was fun."

Her voice was sounding thick again and Mai quickly wiped away the tears that were beginning to well. Twice in one day? Get a hold of yourself Mai!

"My brother would have loved that," Naru said finally; voice uncharacteristically soft.

She wasn't sure why, but the knowledge that Naru had a brother came as a complete shock. Maybe because in the almost two years she'd known Naru she'd never once heard him mention them?

"Is your brother like you?" Mai asked finally, unsure of what else to say.

Naru scoffed. "He was nothing like me. The complete opposite really. He was my twin."

The use of 'was' wasn't lost of Mai but she didn't comment on it, letting the new information sink in.

"I don't think I could imagine an opposite version of you," Mai admitted. In her mind an image of dream-Naru appeared but she ignored it.

It couldn't be.

Naru scoffed. "You've never imagined a version of me that's nice?"

Mai hummed, thinking back to dream Naru before shaking that thought away again.

"It's not that I've never wished that you were nicer sometimes but you are nice already. Not all the time and you're super selective, but I've seen you be kind before and I know you'll do it again," Mai admitted softly, her cheeks bright. "Besides, I like you like this. You're Naru."

Clicking her mouth shut, she refused to look over at Naru – unsure of how he might react to this information. He could take it so many ways, but when she didn't feel an angry glare on her, she chanced a quick peek, only to find herself gazing into Naru's shocked blue eyes; drowning in the waves of emotion that were there for once.

"Thank you."

Mai blinked in surprise at those words, unable to respond.

A smirk twitched at the corners of his lips and she finally snapped out of their moment.

It should be awkward right now but instead all she felt was calm; almost like this was something she'd needed to tell Naru for whatever reason and something that he'd needed to hear, and now that he had, well –

Mai didn't know what happened now.

Most likely they'd go back to pretending none of this ever happened. Naru would be a jerk, they'd argue more than they'd agree and Mai would let her temper get the better of herself more often then not.

But in the back of their minds they would remember this encounter. And when Gene's body is discovered in the new year, things would go differently.

After all, why bother asking whether you'd go with the nice version or the rude version when you already knew the answer?


End file.
